Airmen and Air Theory A Review of the Sources COL PHILLIP S. MEILINGER, USAF, RETIRED Air University Press Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama 2001 Originally published as American Airpower Biography: A Survey of the Field First edition 1995 Revised edition 1997 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meilinger, Phillip S., 1948- [American airpower biography] Airmen and air theory : a review of the sources / Phillip S. Meilinger. p. cm. Rev. ed. of: American airpower biography : a survey of the field, Rev. ed. 1997; also includes The historiography of airpower theory and doctrine, originally published in the Journal of military history, April 2000. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-58566-101-5 1. Aeronautics, Military—United States—Biography. 2. United States. Air Force— Officers—Bibliography. 3. Generals—United States—Biography. 4. Air power—United States—Historiography. I. Meilinger, Phillip S., 1948– Historiography of airpower theory and doctrine. II. Title. UG626 .M49 2001 358.4'0092'273—dc21 2001053948 Disclaimer Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Air University, the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, or any other US government agency. Cleared for public re- lease: distribution unlimited. Air University Press 131 West Shumacher Avenue Maxwell AFB AL 36112-6615 ii Contents Chapter Page DISCLAIMER . ii ABOUT THE AUTHOR . vii PREFACE . ix PART 1 Biographies and Autobiographies 1 INTRODUCTION . 3 2 THE AIRMEN . 5 Mason M. Patrick . 5 William “Billy” Mitchell . 7 Benjamin D. Foulois . 13 Oscar M. Westover . 15 Clarence L. Tinker . 16 William A. Moffett . 16 John H. Towers . 18 Henry H. “Hap” Arnold . 19 Warner Robins . 24 Claire L. Chennault . 26 James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle . 29 Ira C. Eaker . 30 Carl A. Spaatz . 32 iii Chapter Page Laurence S. Kuter . 34 George C. Kenney . 36 Donald Wilson . 40 Kenneth N. Walker . 40 Haywood S. Hansell Jr. 41 Ennis Whitehead . 44 Lewis H. Brereton . 46 Hugh J. Knerr . 47 Elwood R. “Pete” Quesada . 48 Hoyt S. Vandenberg . 50 Orvil A. Anderson . 52 Howard A. Craig . 53 Dale O. Smith . 54 Frank Armstrong . 56 Charles P. Cabell . 57 Nathan F. Twining . 58 Curtis E. LeMay . 59 Edwin W. Rawlings . 64 William H. Tunner . 64 George E. Stratemeyer . 66 Lauris Norstad . 68 Benjamin O. Davis Jr. 71 Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. 73 iv Chapter Page Edward G. Lansdale . 75 George S. Brown . 78 James V. Hartinger . 80 Charles A. Horner . 81 3 ANTHOLOGIES AND ORAL HISTORIES . 85 4 CONCLUSION . 91 PART 2 The Historiography of Airpower Theory and Doctrine 5 OVERALL TREATMENTS . 97 6 EARLY THINKING . 99 7 GIULIO DOUHET . 103 8 WILLIAM “BILLY” MITCHELL . 107 9 AIR CORPS TACTICAL SCHOOL . 109 10 OTHER US THEORISTS . 115 11 THE ROYAL AIR FORCE . 117 12 THE EUROPEAN THEORISTS . 125 13 NAVAL AVIATION . 127 14 WORLD WAR II AND THE POSTWAR ERA . 129 15 VIETNAM AND NATO . 135 16 THE CURRENT DEBATE . 139 17 ANTHOLOGIES ON MODERN AIRPOWER . 149 v Chapter Page 18 CONCLUSION . 155 GLOSSARY . 157 INDEX . 159 vi About the Author Col Phillip S. Meilinger A 1970 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Col Phillip S. Meilinger, USAF, retired, received an MA from the Uni- versity of Colorado and a PhD from the University of Michigan. After a tour at the Academy, Colonel Meilinger was assigned to the Air Staff’s doctrine division in the Pentagon, where he wrote and edited numerous Air Force and joint-doctrine publications, worked roles-and-missions issues, and participated in the plan- ning cell for Instant Thunder during the Gulf War of 1991. A command pilot who flew C-130s and HC-130s in both Europe and the Pacific, he has also worked as an operations officer in the Pacific Airlift Control Center at Clark Air Base, Philippines. From 1992 to 1996, Colonel Meilinger served as dean of the School of Advanced Airpower Studies (SAAS), the Air Force’s only graduate school for airpower strategists. After leaving SAAS, he served as a professor of strategy at the Naval War College. His publications include Hoyt S. Vandenberg: The Life of a General (1989; reprint, Air Force History and Museums Pro- gram, 2000); 10 Propositions Regarding Air Power (Washing- ton, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1995); and several dozen articles and reviews on airpower history and theory in journals such as Foreign Policy, Armed Forces and Society, Armed Forces Journal International, Comparative Strategy, Journal of Military History, and Aerospace Power Journal. He also edited and contributed to The Paths of vii Heaven: The Evolution of Airpower Theory (Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.: Air University Press, 1997). After he retired, Colonel Meilinger became the deputy direc- tor of the AEROSPACENTER for Science Applications Interna- tional Corporation in McLean, Virginia, where he may be reached by E-mail at [email protected]. viii Preface Any researcher knows that a good bibliography, especially an annotated one, is worth its weight in gold. We are all too busy to slog through the mass of information, good and bad, available on any given subject. We hope to separate the wheat from the chaff without actually having to go through the oner- ous threshing process ourselves. So we talk to experts in the particular area and ask for guidance. Alternatively, we trudge over to the library and ask someone at the reference desk for help. In either case, we usually resort to a specialized bibliog- raphy on the topic of interest. That gets us started. My intent in this book is to spin some gold, or at least some silver or bronze, to help overloaded researchers get started in their quest for good sources on airpower. I wrote the two parts of this book separately and for differ- ent audiences. Part one, “Biographies and Autobiographies,” appeared as American Airpower Biography: A Survey of the Field, published in 1995 by Air University Press, which also is- sued a revised edition in 1997. I wrote part two, “The Histori- ography of Airpower Theory and Doctrine,” at the request of the editorial board of The Journal of Military History after it de- cided to publish a historiographical article in each quarterly issue. My article on airpower historiography appeared in the April 2000 issue of JMH. I have edited and updated both pieces for this book. I can only hope that my efforts prove useful to long-suffering re- searchers. PHILLIP S. MEILINGER Potomac Falls, Virginia ix PART 1 Biographies and Autobiographies Chapter 1 Introduction The involvement of people has given history its enduring fascination and popularity. One field within history, biogra- phy, has always held special appeal. All of us have a deep interest in knowing how others, perhaps like ourselves, have met challenges, dealt with failure, and accommodated them- selves to victory and fame. On a more mundane level, we like to know how great people lived their day-to-day lives and how they handled their loves, shortcomings, attributes, frailties, and quirks. We find comfort in knowing that great men and women were quite human. This knowledge also provides hope and encouragement because it means that even the humblest of us can aspire to greatness. Certainly, geniuses live among us, but the lives of most of the ones we consider noteworthy are marked by an unexcep- tional background and a fortuitous turn of events. Sincere, hardworking, and courageous people find themselves in posi- tions of responsibility when circumstances of great pith and moment are thrust upon them. Predicting how individuals will react in such circumstances is remarkably difficult. Often, people groomed for leadership are found wanting in times of crisis, and those who do step forward come from unexpected quarters. Such has been the case with many of our country’s great airmen. This part of the book reviews the state of American airpower biography and autobiography. I have set certain parameters to define the boundaries of my discussion. I discuss biographies and autobiographies, anthologies, and oral histories of mili- tary officers who served in senior positions. Thus, although the stories of great aviators like Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, and Chuck Yeager are important, those men did not command large forces either in combat or in peace; they had only a temporary effect on the development of strategy and doctrine. Similarly excluded are civilian political leaders and industrialists like Stuart Symington and Donald Douglas, 3 AIRMEN AND AIR THEORY even though they played key roles in their own spheres. What follows are the stories—some published, some not—of Amer- ica’s greatest military airmen—some told by themselves, oth- ers by biographers. The order of presentation is roughly chronological, according to the time during which these men served. The fact that a surprising number of air luminaries do not appear here means that much work remains to be done. 4 Chapter 2 The Airmen Unfortunately, one of the greater gaps in the historiography of airpower lies in the area of biography. Both Noel Parrish and David MacIsaac in their Harmon Memorial Lectures in Military History commented on this deficiency and encouraged histori- ans to rectify it. Some listened, but too few. At the same time, the dearth of autobiographies by senior airmen is an even greater problem. Surprisingly and significantly, air leaders have published only two memoirs since Curtis LeMay’s effort three decades ago. The absence of such personal reminiscences is perhaps even more serious than the lack of biography. Mason M. Patrick was the first real head of American aviation. Although he served as an Army engineer for 30 years, in 1918 Gen John J. Pershing, Patrick’s West Point classmate, ap- pointed him commander of the Air Service in France.